Lucent to cut up to 25,000 more jobs

The layoffs are just the latest sign of financial woes at Lucent. The company, which said it would discontinue its dividend--usually a sign of financial distress--issued a whopping 4,970-word press release detailing its financials.

The embattled telecommunications equipment company Tuesday posted a net loss of $3.25 billion, or 95 cents per share, for the third fiscal quarter, including discontinued operations, a $684 million restructuring charge and other accounting charges.

The new layoffs and resulting fourth-quarter charge are part of a continuing effort by Lucent to shore up results and boost its cash in the midst of a dramatic slowdown in spending in the telecom sector. In a related move, the company announced it would cease issuing a dividend, instead reinvesting those funds "into its new go-to-market business model." It speculated that the move would save $68 million each quarter.

Lucent has reduced its workforce by 19,000 since January, and eliminated 5,500 contract positions during that time. The company said today that around 8,500 of those workers left through a voluntary retirement program. The company will take a $1.2 billion charge in the fourth quarter related to the headcount reductions. --Margaret Kane, Special to ZDNet News